


Convocation and Commencement

by a_la_grecque



Category: Center Stage (2000)
Genre: Gen, Misses Clause Challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-22
Updated: 2011-12-22
Packaged: 2017-10-27 21:02:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/300009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_la_grecque/pseuds/a_la_grecque
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A big milestone brings the women of 903C back together</p>
            </blockquote>





	Convocation and Commencement

**Author's Note:**

  * For [isilya](https://archiveofourown.org/users/isilya/gifts).



She didn’t understand it at first, why someone would send her a ticket to a college graduation. It was bundled in with some other fan mail. Not that she got a whole lot of it, not compared with the regular principals, but there was a little bit. Especially after that unexpected performance in _Jardin aux Lilas_ after Kathleen tore a ligament. Seemed like she would be destined to benefit from other people’s misfortunes, but an opportunity was an opportunity, for all that.  It wasn’t all positive, either, that ‘fan’ mail. Some people just couldn’t handle anything beyond the old standard tutus, Tchaikovsky, and traditions, apparently.

She thought it might be one of those people sending her the ticket, for a moment, some kind of statement on her lack of a college education. Stupid, as if the typical dancer even went to college anyway. She sighed in disgust and tossed it in the trash.  She didn’t piece it together until she found the note tucked into a swan card from some unimaginative well wisher.

 _Eva,_

 _I know this probably seems really strange, but I would really appreciate it if you would come and be there for me._

 _Maureen_

Eva frowned and pulled the ticket out of the trash. Arcadia University. She’d never even heard of it, but that didn’t really say much other than they probably didn’t have a dance programme.  She couldn’t even remember the last time she’d talked with Maureen, they hadn’t exactly been close since ABA. There had been several rounds of parties after workshop for celebrations and commiserations, but after that Maureen had gone off to college and rehearsals had taken over Eva’s life more than she ever thought possible, and things had tailed off to just the occasional email.

 It  had always felt a little strained to Eva anyway, it wasn’t as if they’d really been close that year, and although it was easy enough (and true) to say that she was dancing for her own enjoyment, there was still a little something that niggled at her about being indebted to Maureen for giving her a chance at dancing the lead, something that just didn’t sit quite right. Why would Maureen possibly want her to go to her college graduation? She tapped the ticket on her thigh absently and tucked it in her purse without really thinking about it.

She forgot about it entirely until the next day when Jody called her, practically fizzing with excitement.

“Did you get the ticket yet? For Maureen’s graduation?”

“Huh, oh, yeah, yeah I did.”

“So…we’re going to go, right?” Jody asked, “It would be fun,  we could take a little road trip, it’s only two hours away.”

“Oh, Jody, I don’t know…” Eva said, still unsure how she felt about the whole thing.

“Come on, I know you’re not performing right now, surely you can swing a day or two off rehearsals, it would be like our very own reunion. 903C back together again!”

Eva smiled at Jody’s enthusiasm in spite of herself. “I guess I just don’t know how happy of a reunion that would be.”

“Aw, we had some fun times, didn’t we?” said Jody, “And I think she really wants you there.”

“Yeah, but, why?”

“Maybe you should go along to her graduation and ask her?”

Eva sighed. “All right, fine. I’m not promising anything, but I’ll talk to Jonathan tomorrow. We’re not all principals who get to arrange our schedules to suit ourselves, you know.”

Jody managed to ignore the little dig in the way that she so often seemed to do. “Great! I know you can sweet talk him, Eva, everyone knows you’re his new protégée. “

“Oh yeah? Well, it’s news to me. If things don’t start happening soon, I’ll be resigned to dancing with a rose in the <i>corps</i> for the rest of my career.”

“Oh, Eva,” said Jody, “That’ll never be you. You danced as a principal in Asia, after all.”

“Yeah, but only because Kathleen tore a ligament. And nothing’s happened since then.”

“Aren’t you going to be a soloist for the next season?” Jody asked, surprised.

Eva groaned in frustration. “I thought it might happen, but Jonathan hasn’t announced anything yet and it’s driving me crazy.”

“Oh, I thought –“

“Charlie doesn’t know anything, does he? He says not, but maybe he just won’t tell me.”

Jody laughed. “Well, he hasn’t said anything to me, either.”

“Damn it, and Erik’s as clueless as I am.” Eva clutched her head in her hand. “Well, maybe a little trip would help take my mind off things.” 

She could actually hear Jody clapping on the other end of the line before she rang off. Some things never changed, but she was actually kind of glad that her friend’s boundless enthusiasm was one of them.

***

The drive down was a lot more fun than Eva had anticipated. Jonathan had proved surprisingly willing to give her the time off, and Eva was feeling more positive about him than she had since he offered her a position in the company. There had almost been an ugly moment when she had to veto Jody’s choice of a Tchaikovsky CD, despite Jody’s protests that she didn’t get enough exposure to classical ballet these days.

There was another small hiccup when Jody announced that they’d be meeting Maureen for dinner after the ceremony as they were looking for a parking space. Eva had some issues with that, they’d had a great time reminiscing about their Academy days during the drive… but not many of them seemed to involve Maureen.

She set her reservations aside though, as Jody seemed so pleased about having arranged it all.

The graduation ceremony itself was about as boring as any other she had been to, but she and Jody kept themselves amused by doodling on the program during the dullest parts. Maureen didn’t walking until later in the ceremony, Eva had a vague memory of her mentioning something about a Psych major, but she didn’t realise she had actually majored in Sport Psychology. It didn’t exactly tally with her idea of what Maureen might do, but she’d suspected for a long time that her ideas about Maureen weren’t necessarily correct.

Having sat through a few hundred anonymous walkers already, they weren’t too sure that they would be able to pick her out of the crowd. As it turned out, she was totally recognisable, if not as Maureen then at least as a dancer. Her poise was unmistakable as she stopped to shake hands, even though she’d cut her hair short. It was strange, seeing Maureen surrounded by a big group and looking happy and relaxed once she’d crossed the stage. Definitely not the Maureen she remembered from ABA. 

She would never admit it out loud, and she could scarcely admit it to herself, but it actually did end up being kind of moving, everyone tossing their caps in the air and getting ready to start their journeys in life. Jody cried, she obviously didn’t have a problem with admitting it. Eva waited for her to wipe up her tears before suggesting it was time to make tracks.

***

Maureen met them at the restaurant, with a slightly awkward hug. Eva somehow thought she’d be stiff and only slightly pliable, as if she was some kind of real life Coppélia. Even though they’d hugged before, once, it was still a surprise to find her warm and responsive. Jody set up another awkward moment by excusing herself to go to the bathroom as soon as they were seated at their table.

“I…” Eva started, unusually lost for words.

“Look,” Maureen interrupted, “I’m really glad you came, and I want to apologise for that year at ABA, for being such a…”

“Bitch?” Eva supplied, finding her voice again.

“Uh, that wasn’t exactly the word I was looking for, but yeah.”

“I’m sorry too,” said Eva, “You were going through some shit, we didn’t give you a lot of slack. _I_ didn’t give you a lot of slack.”  

“Yeah, but everyone had their own problems, it wasn’t an easy year for anyone. Can we draw a line under it and move on?”

Eva laughed. “I think we did that after you gave up your spot in the workshop for me. By the way, in case I didn’t thank you enough already… thanks again for giving me that break.”

“I should be thanking you,” Maureen said, “I couldn’t bear the thought of actually dancing, but I didn’t want to screw over everyone else by dropping out. Then you made me realise I could do us both a favour.”

“Well, thanks anyway.”

“I can’t think of anyone that deserved it more. You wanted it so much more than I ever did.”

Eva didn’t know how to respond to that, and luckily Jody returned to the table and the conversation broke off.

“So, what’d I miss?” Jody asked.

“Oh, nothing,” said Maureen, “Just some water under the bridge. Right, Eva?”

“Right.” Eva smiled.

Their server came up to take their orders, reminding them that they hadn’t spent any time actually looking at the menus. Finally they got their ordering taken care of, and Jody asked the server if they could do anything special for a new grad.

“So, how come you’re doing graduation dinner with us and not your family?” Eva asked, as they waited for the server to return with their drinks.

Maureen looked down at the table before she answered. “I know it probably sounds stupid to you, but sometimes I still find it hard to eat around people. Especially my Mom… we’re getting along better now, but she’s not exactly, uh, supportive.”

Jody reached across the table and squeezed her hand.

“I just feel more comfortable around you guys… I know you understand what it’s like, even if you haven’t been exactly where I was.”

Eva kept quiet, she wasn’t entirely sure she did know where Maureen was coming from.

“Well, there’s no pressure now, right?” said Jody, “Not from us, not from anyone.”

“I guess not,” Maureen replied, “But it still takes some remembering, even four years after I quit dancing.”

“You don’t dance at all now?” Eva asked.

Maureen shook her head brightly. “Nope, only if I go on a night out.”

“Don’t you miss it at all?” said Jody.

“Not even a little bit, no regrets at all. I didn’t even watch a ballet for two years after I quit.”

Eva was shocked, giving up dancing was about as unthinkable as giving up breathing.

“I did try cheerleading, when I was a freshman,” Maureen added, just as their drinks arrived.

Jody and Eva exchanged identical horrified looks.

“Yeah, it was a little bit too… peppy, I couldn’t stick it out.”

“I can’t imagine not dancing anymore,” said Jody, “I mean, I’ve had my issues with ballet at times –“

“Turn out!” cried Eva and Maureen, more or less simultaneously.

Jody rolled her eyes. “Right. But I never wanted to give up dancing altogether, and now it makes me so happy again-”

“Please,” Eva broke in, “Don’t get started on how amazing Cooper is and what it’s like to be his muse, I don’t want to lose my appetite.”

Maureen gave her a conspiratorial wink, and Eva guessed she’d had a few gushing conversations with Jody over the years as well.

“Oh, come on guys,” Jody said, “He _is_ a great choreographer, you have to admit that.”

“Yeah,” said Eva, “But he’s still an asshole.”

“He’s not that bad!” Jody said defensively.

“Right, then why did you spent all those nights crying in our room during workshop rehearsals?”

“Well, that was at least a little bit because I was being stupid...” Jody said.

“Wait,” said Maureen, “I don’t remember any of that happening.”

“Yeah, that’s because you were too busy sneaking out to be with your boyfriend most nights,” said Eva.

Maureen blushed.

“So why isn’t…” Eva searched for the name, “Jim taking you out to dinner tonight.”

“Oh, he’s kind of busy being a med student these days, you know.” Maureen took a sip of her drink, looking thoughtful.

“Oh, shit,” said Eva, “Did I say the wrong thing?”

Maureen waved her off. “No, it’s fine. Actually I was just thinking it was too bad I had to go off and be with him to have any fun that year.” She sighed. “I got it into my head that nothing about ABA could be enjoyable, and I probably missed out on a lot. I mean, you guys seemed to have plenty of fun. Too much fun, sometimes.”

The server came back with their order as Jody and Eva shared an amused smile. 

“You’re right,” Eva said, waving her fork for emphasis, “It’s a miracle we even survived.”

“Hey, it really was for me,” said Jody, “I totally thought Jonathan was going to kick me out halfway through the year.”

“Please,” said Eva, “I almost got cut on the first day.”

“Not with your feet, you didn’t,” said Maureen.

“And then there was you,” said Jody, “You were never in danger of getting kicked out.”

“No, I just desperately wanted to be.”

“I guess we probably shouldn’t spend the night talking about ballet,” said Eva, “This is your night after all. Let’s hear about your plans for the future, Little Miss Grad.”

Maureen smiled.  “Well, we’d still be in the same general area, actually. I have some news that means we’re probably going to be seeing a little bit more of each other.”

“You’re not planning on making a comeback as a dancer?” asked Jody.

“Oh no, no,” said Maureen, “Definitely not. But… I am going back to ABA.”

Eva frowned at her.

“Well, I ended up majoring in Sport Psychology because of everything I went through, everything I saw the rest of you guys going through… it’s so much to handle, maybe a little too much. I wanted to understand why, and find out if there was a way to make it easier… I actually wrote my thesis on the Pennsylvania Ballet,  and… well you don’t want to know about that.”

“ABA?” Jody prompted.

“Right,” Maureen said, “So, I only just found out a couple of weeks ago, but they’ve offered me a position as a special counsellor at ABA.”

Jody leaned over and hugged her. “That’s amazing news! Congratulations!”

“That’s great,” Eva said, “I think there’s going to be a lot of kids who could use someone like you to talk to.”

“I hope so,” said Maureen, “Well, I mean, I hope I can make a difference for some of them. And we’ll probably be seeing each other around a bit more now.”

“Yeah,” said Eva, “About that.” She waited a minute, still hugging her good news to herself. “You won’t be seeing me around much for the next few months.”

Maureen and Jody looked blankly at her.

She smiled and drew in a deep breath. “I’m going to be overseas again… as a proper soloist this time.”

Jody leaned over to hug her this time, and Maureen grabbed her by the hand.

“See, I told you it would happen,” Jody said in her ear.

“It was only a matter of time,” added Maureen.

“Yeah, well,” Eva said, biting down an urge to squeal, “It’s not a huge deal really.”

“Don’t even try that,” said Jody, “It might work on your friends from back home, but we _know_ how much it means to you.” 

“All right,” Eva grinned, “I’ve been desperate to tell you since I found out yesterday. In fact, I kind of wanted to open up the window in my apartment and just announce it to the world.”

“You should have!” Jody said, and Maureen smiled in agreement.

The server chose that moment to interrupt with a tray of champagne, and another round of congratulations on her graduation for Maureen.

“So Jody,” Maureen said, “Isn’t there anything we should be congratulating you for?”

“Oh, not really.”

“Is that just because we told you not to gush and you’re actually secretly dying to tell us all about the amazing new pieces you’ve got coming up?” asked Eva.

“Um, maybe?”

“Tell us,” said Maureen.

“Well, it’s going to be incredible, you know. We’ve all been taking _bhangra_ classes, and the movements, the language, it’s just so _different_ , and exciting, I honestly don’t know how Cooper comes up with this stuff sometimes, and-”

“It sounds fascinating and all, but this champagne’s getting warm,” Eva said.

“Fine, I’ll get you both opening night tickets instead.”

They raised their glasses.

“Coming together and new beginnings?”

“Coming together and new beginnings!”


End file.
